Located on Oak and Laguna Streets in San Francisco, Calif., Hayes Valley Farm opened in January of 2010 after the lot it occupies had been a concrete jungle since the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989 that destroyed the freeway off ramp. Turning an empty lot into an urban farm supporting community and agriculture development in the heart of San Francisco, Hayes Valley Farm provides workshop, volunteer days and potluck dinners while battling eco-terrorists and the city of San Francisco to thrive in their time given to them.

Background
Urban agricultural practices are expanding in several cities of the Republic of Benin. This study aims to assess the impact of such practices on transmission of the malaria parasite in major cities of Benin.

Method
A cross sectional entomological study was carried out from January to December 2009 in two vegetable farming sites in southern Benin (Houeyiho and Acron) and one in the northern area (Azereke). The study was based on sampling of mosquitoes by Human Landing Catches (HLC) in households close to the vegetable farms and in others located far from the farms.

Will Allen comes from a long line of farmers, with over 400 years of farming in his family since sharecropping days

By Natasha Bowens
Grist – A beacon in the fog
Nov. 30, 2010

Excerpt:

On the same day black farmers gathered in Brooklyn for the first annual Black Farmers Conference, the Senate finally voted to award $4.5 billion in damages to African American and Native American farmers for discrimination. The long-awaited settlement funding — three decades in the making — was an outgrowth of the Pigford vs. Glickman class action suit over how processing times for loans to black farmers from a long-ago U.S. subsidy program had far exceeded those for white farmers.

Nice coincidence. But as attendees of this conference know, there’s still a long road ahead to end discrimination, and to fight for land and the right to grow healthy food.